Load bearing articles, such as shelves, are used in a number of applications, including for example transportation vehicles, such as delivery trucks and aircraft. Reducing the weight of the various components of transportation vehicles has been undertaken more recently in an effort to increase the fuel efficiency of such vehicles. The weight of a metal vehicle component can be reduced by fabricating the component from plastic. However, the plastic replacement components generally must possess strength and load bearing properties that are at least equivalent to those of the original metal components.
Some vehicle components are subjected to oscillating loads during operation of the vehicle. Plastic components, such as shelves, that have reduced weight relative to the original metal components, often fail catastrophically when subjected to oscillating loads. As such, to improve their oscillating load bearing properties, plastic components typically weigh at least as much as the metal components they have been designed to replace. 
It would be desirable to develop load bearing articles that incorporate plastic materials and have reduced weight relative to equivalent metal components. In addition, it would be desirable that such newly developed load bearing articles possess strength, and static and oscillating load bearing properties that are at least equivalent to those of the original metal components that they are designed to replace.